


Aftermath

by th3blackcat, TheSpace_Dragon



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Blue talks, Established shallura, F/M, Family Drama, Galra Keith, Gender-Neutral Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Love, M/M, Politcs, Political Drama, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Red talks, Sass, Space Uncle Coran (Voltron), all the lions talk eventually, ambassador keith, establlished klance, family life, lots of bonding moments, lots of love, older paladins, pidge is still doing what pidge does best, politician lance, poster boy lance, seriously though coran does a lot, teacher hunk
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-30
Updated: 2016-10-23
Packaged: 2018-08-18 15:29:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 11,343
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8166764
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/th3blackcat/pseuds/th3blackcat, https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSpace_Dragon/pseuds/TheSpace_Dragon
Summary: The team splits up, taking their Lions with but always remaining in close contact with one another.Hunk went to the Garrison to teach. Pidge went home with their family. Shiro married Allura, the new queen of the Alteans, starting a family in between diplomatic missions. Keith stays, having no family to return to, choosing to stay with his new family in space. Lance, with a home and loving family to return to, chooses to stay at the castle, where Keith was, where he could do the most good. He embraced his role as politician and ambassador, fulfilling the roles beyond everyone's expectations.While years pass and the excitements about Zarkon's defeat calms down, Lance talks of starting a family with Keith, taking him home for a much needed vacation. Next thing they know, team Voltron is called upon once more, this time against an enemy that's turning the opinion of the universe against them.





	1. We can Go Home

**Author's Note:**

> Older Paladin AU set in the canon verse. I have so much planned for this fic, I just hope I can pull it off. Ratings might increase, forewarning.

Lance let his head sink to his desk. Could the day get any longer? Being a diplomat was not his thing, and he just wanted to sit and relax for a day. More like a week. But no, everyone wanted to see the Blue paladin that helped save the universe from an evil purple alien. Yeah, that was his day, his week, his whole life at this point. The only saving grace he had was every day he ended the night with Keith.

Ever since they found out that Keith was half Galra, Lance was the one to stick by him throughout the whole process. From getting used to the changes and grasping the fact that one of his parents was a part of the alien race that was threatening to take over the known universe. Keith had tried it shut everyone out, but Lance wouldn't have it. He was pretty sure he dragged Keith kicking and screaming to a training session at least twice a week. The guy who never stopped training nearly up and quit on them when he found out he could turn purple.

“Dammit, Keith…”

Just thinking about it made Lance flush with embarrassment. Keith had been so stubborn and insistent on replacing the Red Paladin. Weeks had passed and after hearing Keith admit that he thought he was the enemy, Lance had cracked. The floodgates were opened and Lance’s talent of talking nonstop finally came in handy. A full confession sprang from his mouth and everyone was left stunned. Pidge still liked to pick on him about the line “you're purple and we still love you”.

Lance chuckled at that. It was one of his best moments, and he took pride in finally bringing the team back into working order.

Keith had been a blushing mess and so utterly confused about everything that Lance had just said, he just stared at Lance looking like a lost puppy.

“I love you, Keith…”

“Glad that hasn't changed, you done for the day?”

Speak of the devil and he shall appear. Lance picked his head from the desk and dumped it into his hand. “Nearly, some more papers to sign, and I should be done… unless Allura or Shiro decide to walk through that door and tell me to work more, I don't plan to be here any longer than I have to be.”

Keith flicked his ponytail over his shoulder and walked over. Over the whole time of fighting Zarkon and staying in space for who knows how long to eliminate the remaining Galra forces, Keith had let his hair growth fairly long, reaching past his shoulders now.

“You're only stuck here all the time because you slack off anywhere else.”

“You don't have to go around and be the face of the team all the time! Shiro and Allura are searching for more Alteans, Pidge is with her family finally, and Hunk is teaching the Garrison engineering classes. You're the freaking ambassador of the Galra for crying it loud!” Lance shoved away from his desk and raked a hand through his hair in exasperation. “Neither of us have had a break from peace talks and-”

“Okay, okay, I get it, you're tired. Cmon, Allura and Shiro told me we have a while off while they investigate something, so we have some time to unwind.” Keith propped a hand on his hip, waiting for Lance.

“What are they looking into?”

“Another Altean settlement. They're on the outskirts of the system we're in, so if they find anything, they'll let us know.”

Lance closed his eyes and leaned back in his chair. “Hopefully they do, cuz isn't Allura due with another?”

Shocked, Keith leaned over the desk, eyes wide. “Seriously? Didn't she just have Alfor?”

Cracking one eye open, Lance smirked. “Where have you been? Alfy is close to being almost four, Keith.”

“You're messing with me, there's no-”

"Keith, I'm serious! Coran told me!" Lance stood up and walked around the desk. "Let's just head to the room, clearly you're overworked too."

Keith followed him out of the room, still in some state of shock. “That can't be right. Shiro and Allura have only been together-”

"They've been together longer than us, Keith, c'mon, is that ponytail leaking your brain out or something?"

The hallways echoed with Lance's laughter. Keith was still hung up over another child running around the Castle of Lions. Alfor, from what he last remembered of seeing the young boy, had only just begun to walk and talk, and now Shiro and Allura were having another?

“Shouldn't they be focused on finding more Alteans instead of having kids?”

Lance looked over his shoulder and gave Keith a sharp look. “Finding the Alteans is important, but they have lives too.”

“That's...I didn't-Lance that's not what I meant and you know it.”

Lance waved and a hand and turned a corner. “Sure, sure, okay.”

“Lance-”

“Keith!” Lance stopped and turned around, grabbing Keith's shoulders. “Yes, Allura is pregnant again, and they're still looking. Don't you remember when she was having Alfy? She never stopped unless Shiro or Coran tells her to. She's a freaking powerhouse, and nothing’s going to stop her. Don't worry, if she isn't in any condition to do something, Shiro is more than capable of picking up the slack.”

Keith stared at him a little wide-eyed from the sudden lecture. It wasn't often that Lance was serious enough to actually lecture someone about anything. He was the one always cracking the jokes or making people laugh. Granted this conversation was going the same way it had when Pidge told them she wanted to leave Voltron for the sake of finding her family. Keith sighed and gave in, Lance was right. Both Shiro and Allura were both fully capable leaders.

Lance tapped a panel on the wall and entered their suite, immediately heading to the showers. “I'm just gonna head to bed after this, today was hell.”

He shut the door and the water started not long after. Keith showered not too long before he went to get Lance from his office or personalized control panel. He sat on the bed and leaned back on his hands. The last year had been nothing but diplomatic meeting after diplomatic meeting. Everyone wanted an audience with him, but it was only to confirm that the Galra were no longer controlled by Zarkon and his malicious governments. It wasn't that he called himself busy, but Lance was right, again, he had become the face of Voltron and therefore the rest of the team. Nearly every planet they pass as they travel throughout the universe would hail them and demand an audience and request to ally themselves with Voltron. Being the only one that was readily available, Lance was automatically volunteered to be the one to head down and greet each planet. That had to be more than tiring, on top of all the paperwork he had to do afterward. As big of a clown he was, still is, he had stepped up and was fulfilling the role as a Paladin beyond anyone's expectations of him. And the results showed. Every planet had made an alliance with them, even the ones that were recently liberated from the Galra empire and were extremely cautious of Voltron because of Keith. Those were the longest meetings Lance and Keith participated in. Much of it was defending the fact that Galra were people and not all inherently murderers. That took a lot of convincing.

Keith sighed and fell back. Those meetings were hell on him. Every leader had asked to see his transformation, and thankfully, his Galra form didn't come with the three-foot height difference, so his Paladin formal attire was safe from constant repairs.

Something fell on top his stomach knocking the wind out of him.

“...Lance- get off…” he groaned.

Lance sat and leaned over him, bracing on hand next to his hip.

“I could hear you thinking from the shower. What's up?” Lance asked.

Water dripped from his hair and followed the valleys of his neck before disappearing to his collar. The years of fighting had done Lance well, leaving Lance with a powerful frame. It was nothing like Shiro’s, but it suited Lance. He was still fairly tall and thin, lanky even, yet the muscles he gained from years of fighting gave him the image people saw throughout the universe: someone strong enough save the universe and put it back together. Keith was just glad neither of them lost limbs in the process. A few scars here and there, but none of the team ever suffered serious injuries since the bomb incident all that time ago.

Keith reached and placed his hand on Lance’s cheek, smoothing his thumb over his cheekbone and wiping away droplets of water. “Just wondering about stuff, nothing to worry about.”

Lance turned and kissed his palm, leaning into its warmth. “Mhm, say that to your worries lines.”

Keith scoffed and sat up to meet Lance's eyes. The rich blue hue always swallowed him up and made him feel whole again. They were what kept him grounded when he first found out that he was half Galra, those eyes were his home.

“I wasn't worrying over anything. Just thinking. Ya know? The whole how far we come thing?”

Lance hummed. “How far we've come? Well, we went from rivals...to what's this? A committed relationship?”

Rolling his eyes, Keith kissed Lance on his forehead. “You're adorable, but seriously.”

“Excuse you, I’m always serious!”

“Yeah, right, McClain.” Keith dragged him in for another kiss. It was slow and tender, reminding Lance of the big softy Keith actually was underneath his course exterior.

Lance knew Keith was never big on affection, but since they were left to their own for a few days, maybe longer, he wanted to look at something before finally going to bed. He also wasn't big on surprises, but this was too good of an opportunity to pass up if they were where Lance thought they were.

Problem was...He needed Keith to stay here.

“Keith, you look like shit, get some sleep,” Lance suggested. “I never finished up that paperwork I mentioned, so I should do that before I sleep. Should only take an hour, tops.”

Keith huffed but laid back on the bed anyways. "Don't dick around, though."

“Pfffft, please, you would know me better than that now.” Lance stood and walked to the door.

“Do I?”

“Good night, Kogane.”

That was too easy.

* * *

 

Lance walked out of the room and straight to the control room. Coran was still toiling away with some sensors and saw him enter.

“Lance? I thought you were done for the day,” he said.

“Just checking on something, Coran.” He pulls up the three-dimensional map. It took him a year of learning Altean to figure it out. “Have you heard from Allura or Shiro yet?”

The other man finished his task before giving Lance an answer, giving him plenty of time to find what he was looking for.

“Not yet, but their beacon has just arrived at the planet. It shouldn't be too long before we hear back from them. How’s the paperwork coming along? Getting everything done?”

“Yeah, for the most part. The last meeting we had went smooth enough. This one shouldn’t be too bad.”

“Lance, you and Thace had to hold Keith back from attacking one of the citizens for calling him a half-breed. I am certain that the citizen meant nothing by it. My grandfather once told me-”

“Coran, stop. Keith managed to get through the most biased interview from the council on that planet and was literally one insult away from killing someone. You know how he is.” Lance clicked off the map, glancing at the royal advisor.

He loved Coran, he was like the crazy uncle he never had, but he somehow always missed some of the finer points of the Paladins he was in charge of.

“I suppose that is true. Does not excuse his behavior, we almost lost that alliance.” Coran tutted.

Lance groaned. "Don't remind me. They called for a follow-up meeting and I spent the whole time apologizing."

“You did well, my boy. Did you find what you need?” All Coran did was care about them, it was amazing that he had a capacity to with everything that he did.

“Yeah, thanks, I did. Would it be possible to, uh, take a vacation?” Lance was aware that their schedule was packed with meetings, but the time between them was for travel.

Coran still pulled up the schedule on his tablet. He hummed before giving Lance a sly look. “Are you and Keith up to something?”

Not bothering to stop the eye roll that Coran had painstakingly broke him of, Lance scoffed. “No, we are not up to anything. I simply want to take a vacation... andpossiblyintroduceKeithtomyfamily…”

The advisor raised his eyebrows, deciphering the last part of Lance’s comment. “Taking Keith before your parents? ...Human customs are strange; why do you need their approval?”

“It’s not for their approval, it’s more so they know who I am with.”

“Well, if you must, you can visit for a week, I will alert you of any changes.”

Lance grabbed Coran in a strong hug and spun him. “Thank you thank you thank you, thank you, Coran. We will leave tomorrow. Thank you!”

Leaving Coran a little dazed, Lance rushed out of the room, excited for the next day.

 


	2. Homecoming

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First order of business: I have a co-author! My friend Nixxy here has been listening to me rant about this fic for far too long and helped me reel it back into a working fic, so she deserves the credit. I swear most of the plot is her ideas (P.S. Check out her fics, they're sickeningly cute!)
> 
> Secon order: There has been some discourse of Lance's last name since the reveal of him being Cuban. In this fic, he will be known as Lance McClain because that is what I have established him as. I know it's not a "Cuban" sounding name, and by no means am I whitewashing his character. I am taking the steps to try and include some of his culture into the fic as best as I can. If you have ideas about I could work it better, drop me a line, I'm always open for help.
> 
> Last order: As I have seen many times in this fandom, the inclusion of Spanish has been hit or miss. In this fic, I will not be using full lines of Spanish dialogue. This is because I do not know any Spanish beyond some terms of endearment and simple vocabulary. Lance's family will speak mostly English except for those few terms. This is not meant to whitewash in any sort of way, I'm just trying to save myself the embarrassment of getting something wrong, and offending any of my readers. If this offends you, you are allowed to stop reading. I will not allow myself or Nix to undergo getting hate for trying to be aware of our readers.
> 
> That being said, don't like? Don't read. Simple as that. And I hope you guys enjoy the chap~ It's pretty fluffy if I do say so. xD

 

Keith rolled over and was greeted with an empty bed.

"Wha-the hell…?"

Lance was usually the last one to wake up. It didn't matter that he was the busiest out of all of them, everyone could count on Lance being the last one to walk through the doors to the kitchen for the morning space goo.

"Lance?"

A thunk from the closet told him that the blue paladin was rooting around in there for something. Keith untangled himself from the bed and padded over to peer inside. Lance was sitting on the ground and rubbing his head.

"Lance, what are you doing in here?"

If Keith was being honest, Lance was capable of blinding people with his smile, and it was the first time in months that Keith had seen him smile with no restraint. Anytime they went down to a planet to negotiate and reassure the alien races there, Keith watched Lance restrain himself. Lance smiled kindly, but it was never too big, never too sure of himself. It was confident and poised, fitting of a paladin who was there to help and lead. This smile was the real Lance. Keith stared as Lance smiled with reckless abandon, he looked like the Lance he first met, the one creating chaos at the Garrison with his pranks.

"Oh, you know, packing some stuff up."

Did he just hear that right?

"Packing? Packing for what?" Keith crossed his arms, some of his scars pulling tight, but nothing that was too uncomfortable. Lance kept smiling at him, even his blue eyes were alive with mirth that Keith never thought he would see again either.

"You'll see, just make sure to have Red ready in a couple of hours, we have somewhere to go." If that smile could get any bigger, Lance was going to break his face.

"Why can't you just tell me?"

The smile disappeared in a flash and was replaced with an affronted look. "And ruin the surprise? Uh, how ‘bout no? When do I ever get to pull one over on you anyways?"

Keith rolled his eyes. "That's the point, Lance."

Lance scoffed and rolled to his feet. "Yeah, yeah, you can yell at me later, but put a shirt on and get ready. I've already packed for you." He threw Keith a bundle of clothes as well.

"You what?" Keith yanked on his standard black t-shirt and raised a brow at Lance. "Why-"

 _Let the Blue Paladin have his fun._ Red crept into his mind, Keith could practically see her tail twitching with amusement.

Rather than answering out loud, Keith rolled his eyes. Red pushed an image of the Blue Lion, who was practically vibrating in her hanger with excitement, matching her paladin's energy levels. Okay, so their lions were in on where they were going, but Keith couldn't know? Yeah, that's fair.

"When did you even get up, Lance?"

"A couple of hours ago," he said as shoved a pair of pants into a bag. "Didn't sleep too much, too excited about today."

Keith didn't even remember him coming back to bed after he left the first time. He shot Lance a critical look as he buckled on his belt. "You sure you're Lance? The Lance I know never misses a chance to sleep."

Lance looked up and deadpanned, "When I say ‘Vol,' you say ‘Tron.' Vol-"

"Okay, okay, you're Lance." He slipped on his jacket, the red one that Lance always complained about but never once tried to throw out as much as he threatened it. "Are you ever going to let that go, though?"

A smirk appeared on Lance's face immediately. "Nope, that is going to haunt you forever, Kogane."

"Sure..."

Lance stood up and stretched, arching his back and wiggling from side to side. "I'll let it go when you get the cheer right on the first try."

Keith's eyebrow twitched. "Excuse me for-"

"Nope, don't care, we're packed and dressed, we're going. C’mon!"

Lance grabbed Keith’s hand and dragged him and the back out to their lion's hangers.

"Lance-what- just give me a min- dude you can slow down…Are we even allowed to take them?" Keith couldn’t keep up with Lance’s long stride on any normal day, and now he was dragging him along.

"Dude, just get in Red and launch. Coran gave us the week off and we are going to go have a good time. So just chill and go. Go on, shoo!"

Keith could hear Red laughing in her hanger, the heavy mechanical purrs giving it away. Ever since they fully opened up to each other, all she was did was tease him. Same way Lance did, there was no winning. Lance was grinning ear to ear again and Keith could feel his resolve slipping. There was no way he could possibly tell Lance no when he was so excited and happy about this.

Lance took off down the hallway, leaving Keith at Red's hanger and taking the bag with him. He was smiling way too much, his cheeks hurt from it. But who could blame him? He got to surprise Keith and his family in one fell swoop, there was no topping that.

He jogged into Blue's hanger. She was ready to go, already open and waiting for him to sit in the pilot's seat.

"Ya ready, Blue?" Like that was even a necessary question at this point, but he always greeted her like that.

She purred at him in response, her tail waving around behind her in excitement. Being her paladin had given her an all access pass to see his thoughts about his family. Lance was never shy about sharing information about all of his siblings, his parents, and even the neighbors, but being in space put a damper on things and there was just so much he missed about them. Blue was there for him, always prodding and asking about the awesome and fun times they had together. He told her how he practically grew up on the beach, learning to surf when he just figured out walking. His memories from that long ago were hazy at best, but Blue enjoyed learning about him just as much as he enjoyed sharing.

Lance locked up the bag in a storage compartment and sat in the pilot's seat.

"Let's go, big girl."

And they were off.

The blues that lit up his hangar disappeared and he was greeted with the black expanse of space. Stars were everywhere and nowhere at the same time. There was simply so much nothing in between them, so much... _space._

Red was casually floating around the castle, Keith was no doubt going through every possibility of where they could possibly go. He would figure it out as soon as they got close enough.

Lance opened a channel to Keith. "Try to keep up, Kogane, I'm leading this."

Keith rolled his eyes. "If you would just tell me where we are going, you would be the one needing to keep up."

"And where's the fun in that?" Lance crooned. He smirked and turned Blue to face the right direction before zooming off.

He heard Keith shout about giving him a warning but he was too busy laughing at Keith's expression of the channel. It wasn't often the red paladin was ever caught off guard, least of all by Lance. Too bad for Keith, Lance had plenty of surprises for him once they landed.

* * *

 

It never took the lions very long to get anywhere. Stars and planets flashed by them, never long enough to see anything that could possibly be of interest, but within minutes, they were passing Saturn's rings and Keith was giving Lance funny looks over their open channel. It was ever thirty seconds or so where Keith would ask where they were going, and by now Lance was just ignoring him, smile on his face and his eyes bright with anticipation.

He still had no way of contacting his family to let them know he was coming and bringing a guest, but surprise visits always happened at his house. He had two older siblings that have long since married and moved out, but they lived close enough that they could drive over and hang out with the McClain family.

Mars flew by and Earth and the moon came into view. Energy thrummed through his entire being, his hand tightening on the controls. Keith shot him a glare, his ponytail whipping around from turning his head so fast.

"Lance, what are we doing here?"

"You'll see."

He pushed Blue forward, drowning out Keith's rapid fire questions with her thrusters. Before he even knew it, they were landing in the desert, their location not far from Keith's shack. Blue knelt down, purring her giant mechanical heart away and dropped Lance to the ground in his speeder. He watched as Red did the same thing, Keith's glare making its presence known. Lance chuckled before zipping over the landscape, leaving a dust cloud behind him.

Was he enjoying this too much? Yes.

Was he going to let up anytime soon? Not a chance.

Lance led the way towards the coast, aiming for the city that his family lived in. It wasn't really a city per se, but it drew a lot of attention from surfers because the waves were phenomenal. For America at least. The McClain family were transplants from Cuba, moving there even before his oldest brother was born. They hadn't moved since. The school system was great, the beach was amazing, and the water? As blue could ever wish it was. It was all he knew. But that one time they went back to see extended family and they went to Varadero, Lance was speechless for the first time in his life. (He was like ten at the time, the biggest chatterbox ever.)

Blue skies, and blue waves, everything blue. Lance was smitten with the beach before he even managed to get out of the car and grab his board.

Lance slowed down for the first time in an hour. Ten minutes in space, and an hour on the ground. Buildings came into view and more people appeared on the roadways. Many of the pedestrians stopped and stared as they rode by, their speeders being nothing like what Earth has seen before. There were a few that looked similar, but that was possibly due to Pidge's and Hunk's reverse engineering at work.

Through the main part of town and right into the residential district, the beach on their right, Lance lowered the barrier between him and the breeze, soaking it all in. He missed this. The sun, the air, the sounds of the ocean. Space was empty, dark, void of the light he grew up with. Children laughed as they rode past, pointing and asking their parents for one. Lance smiled, remembering when he would do that when he some fancy supercar driving down the road.

"Lance, where the hell are we?" Keith finally broke into his daydreams, crashing them all to a halt.

"We're almost there Keith buddy, don't let your ponytail end up in a man bun ‘cause of your attitude." Like he was going to cave now and spoil the surprise.

The beach faded away and the moved into the neighborhoods. Keith was fuming behind him, but following nonetheless. They were close to actually leaving town now, the houses becoming few and far between.

Except. Except there was one house at the very end of the road, an open field behind and Lance could see children playing in the front yard. It had been way too long since he had seen any of them.

What would they think? The Garrison had written them off, telling everyone that they just up and left.

Lance slowed to a crawl and parked the speeder on the side of the road. Cautiously, he stepped out and watched the kids in the yard keep playing. One was a lanky teenage girl and the other was no more than a toddler. The teenager looked familiar.

He blinked and kept watching. The toddler was chasing the older girl.

"Oh no! You're catching up to me!"

Clari? That was Clari?

Lance gaped. Did he really miss that much? His little sister grew up on him. He only looked like he was in his twenties, but she was almost 5 years younger, yet she looked like she was-

"Lance? Who are they?"

Keith. He was here with Keith. Lance reached out and grabbed Keith's hand, tears gathering in his eyes as he watched his little sister play with another.

"That's my sister…" He sounded so far away. He looked like he was lost in a dream, and Keith felt that he was intruding on Lance’s personal dream. Keith couldn’t couldn’t count the times Lance mentioned wanting to coming home.

There were no words to be found. Keith had known something was up, but Lance? Lance brought him home? Home to his family?

"You…you brought me to-" Disbelief was written all over his face, eyes wide and eyebrows nearly in his hairline. Why? Why would Lance do this?

"I brought you to meet my family, yeah."

Keith’s eyes widened more, eyebrows climbing higher. "Lance…"

Lance couldn't stand still anymore. He let go of Keith's hand and shoved himself towards the front yard. His steps were shaky, but he could feel that Keith was following behind him from a distance, completely out of his element here.

"C-Clari…?"

The taller girl stopped and turned towards the noise. When she caught sight of Lance, her jaw dropped.

"Lance?" she whispered.

The toddler ran into her legs and fell back on her bottom. She looked up at Clari and then turned to see what her playmate was staring at. Lance had no idea who she was but she belonged to the McClain family. She had dark curly hair and hazel eyes, her tan skin sun-kissed and glowing.

"Lance?"

"Clari?"

Lance couldn't believe it. She was so grown up. Tears spilled down his cheeks and he took another step forward. Blue pressed at the back of his mind, worried about his distress, but he sent her an image of his sister back to her, showing her he wasn't in any sort of danger.

Clari lit up and raced to tackle him in a hug. "Lance!"

He caught her and spun her around, hugging her tight, reveling in being able to hug his sister again.

"Oh my god, I can't believe it's you! We thought you were dead! Lance, we thought you were dead! Dead! How come you haven't come home until now? Huh? Do you even know how sad Mama and Papa have been?" Clari was talking his ear off.

He felt laughter bubble up in his chest and before he knew it, he was laughing and crying at the same time, overcome with emotion. He was just so happy to be home; no other word could describe it. He was home.

He was home.

"Lance, stop laughing and tell me! Where the heck have you been? Mama’s gonna kill you!"

"Clawi? Who's that?" The toddler had picked herself up and walked over to them, yanking on Clari's pants to get her attention.

Lance set Clari down quickly, wiping his tears away and controlled his laughter. He turned a bright smile over to Keith, who was smiling softly at the reunion. It was only going to get sappier from here on out.

"This is my big brother, Lance. He's your uncle, Sophi, your tío." Clari explained, grinning down at the little girl, Sophi.

"My tío? But aren't my tíos Nicco and Joey?"

"Lance is the one that's been away at school, Soph." Clari was gentle in reassuring the girl. Sophi held onto Clari's pant leg, looking at Lance with apprehension.

He couldn't blame her, to her he was some stranger that came out of nowhere and hugged her aunt, her tía.

Lance smiled and knelt down to her level, his six-foot height was doing him no good in this situation.

"Hi, Sophi, I'm Lance. Sorry, I've been gone so long." He gave her his brightest smile.

Almost immediately, it was like a switch was flipped. "It's okay! You were at school and school is vewy important, wight?" She beamed right back at him and she was missing her two front teeth, giving her the goofiest and most endearing smile he had ever seen.

He laughed and nodded, ruffling her hair. "That's right, school is very important."

Sophi giggled and shoved his hand away, complaining about him ruining her hair. Lance felt his tears coming back. Is she was his niece, then what other additions to the family did he miss? Who were her parents?

He picked Sophi up and held her close. His tears were falling again and he made no move to stop them.

"Tío? Why are you crying? And who's that over there? Is he another tío?" She pointed behind him.

He turned to look at his friend, the one he fell so hard for. Keith stood there, arms crossed and smiling fondly. He was only a few feet away from the speeders, just outside of the yard. This was a trip for him too, he needed to be over here.

"That's Keith," Lance whispered to his newfound niece, "He's going to be one of your tíos soon."

Sophi's eyes nearly bugged out of her head. "What!? You're gonna-?"

"You bet!"

"I wanna be the flower girl then!"

"Of course, Soph. You wanna meet him? He's nice," Lance promised. Keith was one of the nicest people anyone could meet, he just had the don't-mess-with-me air to him, and the resting bitch face didn't help at all.

"I wanna meet Keef!" Sophi squirmed in his arms and he set her down.

She took off and ran to Keith, talking excitedly and pointing back Lance and Clari. Just as he had done a few moments earlier, Keith knelt down to her level, smiling and nodding along with whatever Sophi was saying.

"Soph, Clari! Time to-"

Lance whirled around to face someone standing on the front porch, holding the door open. He could see the shock and millions of questions on their face, eyes wide and mouth hanging slack, the same look Clari gave him when he called for her.

"Hey, Pats, long time no see."

Lance's oldest brother, Patrick, was still built like a linebacker. He played football throughout high school and college before giving up a chance in the NFL to further his career as an international business consultant.

Pats rushed over and enveloped him in a fierce hug. "Seriously, Lance? That's all you have to say?"

The younger man scoffed. "Oh, sure, that's what you say to your long lost brother?"

Pats pulled away and studied Lance. His older brother must have seen the countless battles Lance and the rest of Team Voltron had fought in his eyes, Pats' eyes dulled and his smile fell from his face.

"Lance," his voice was thick with worry, and Lance hated that it sounded like that. "What happened? Where have you been for the past six years?"

Six…

…Years?

They've been gone for six years?

Lance couldn't even find the words to express himself. For the second time in his life, he was speechless.

Clari piped up, "Technically it's been longer than that, you were at the Garrison for two, so really, we haven't seen you for eight."

Right. The Garrison. Two years of his life spent learning to fly. One as a cargo pilot, and half a year a fighter.

"Daddy! You haveta meet Keef! He's tío Lance's special someone!" Sophi was dragging Keith over by force.

Keith was beyond confused. This was Lance's family? What is a tee-oh? The little girl was no more than three-feet tall and she was tugging Keith around like he was one of her childhood friends. He caught Lance's eye and pleaded for help, but no help was coming from him. He was already under the glare of someone who looked to be his dad almost.

Pats leveled a questioning look at Lance, eyebrow raised. "You leave to go to the Garrison for two years. Then disappear off the face of the earth-" Wasn't that the truth? "- for six more years and bring home a boy? Lance, what in god's name-?"

"Look, I know it looks really bad now but I-we can explain, I promise. It's just, it's a really long story and, uh, everyone should be sitting down for it. ‘Cause, yeah, it's a doozy."

Pats looked between him and Keith. Lance looked a little panicked, because he knew what would happen if his mother wasn't sitting down. Keith was just lost, looking at everyone, including down at Sophi. What was Lance thinking of bringing him here for this? Isn't this something he should be doing by himself?

A door slammed open and a short older woman with graying hair stood fuming in the doorway.

"LANCE!"

Keith looked over saw Lance actually _cowering_ behind the man that could rival Shiro with muscle mass. He was actually sure he was bigger than Shiro…

"H-h-hi M-mama…G-good to b-be home?"

Lance was so dead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So what did you guys think? I want to apologize for being a hard ass up top, but I feel that it is necessary that I explain myself and my intentions for this fic before the fandom picks up their pitchforks and torches. I ensure you, that none of this is meant to be offensive and that I am trying my best. I am always open for constructive criticism and any tips to help improve. I reply to every comment and my inbox is always open, here and on tumblr ( @acnomogia)
> 
> I really hope you guys enjoyed and thank you so much for all the kudos and comments, they're all wonderful!
> 
> Until next time,  
> Mogi


	3. You were in Space...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> god this was a doozy, it's been awhile since I have written 5k+ and force someone to beta it (sorry nix xD) Anyways enjoy guys!

Keith was lost.

He watched as this woman - who barely cleared Lance's shoulders – storm the front yard. She shoved past Lance's older brother – who was bigger than Shiro now that Keith was closer – grab his boyfriend's ear, bring him down to her level, and continue to lecture the young man about disappearing for eight years. She was a force of nature. She spoke in lightening quick Spanish and Keith could only watch, shocked, as Lance was cowed into a young boy again, muttering "yes, Mama" and "no, Mama" in quick succession. Lance was bent over into a dramatic slouch to accommodate his mother's height. His older brother shied away to stand by Keith and pick up the little girl.

With the child on his hip, he leaned over and whispered, "You better hope you're not next."

Keith turned to stare at the man, wide-eyed. "Wha-why would I be next?"

The other girl, Clari, spoke up from his other side. "Because Mama is on a rampage and you showed up with Lance."

"But-I-he dragged-?" He pointed at Lance, still being lectured. "He was the one who brought me here!" How could he be blamed for this?

Clari hummed. "Mama's pretty protective, so Lance disappearing and showing up with a boy after who knows long…" She trailed off giving him a sly smirk.

"Mama has a temper, sure, but what Clari is conveniently forgetting is that Mama is actually pretty nice...once she's calmed down. She's really only angry that one of her children disappeared off the face of the planet and comes back with a stranger and a tired smile," the man added in. What was his name again?

"Aw, c'mon , Pats! You ruined all the fun!" Clari moaned and crossed her arms, pouting.

Keith swallowed hard. Lance was still being berated, and he wanted to help, but he knew nothing of Spanish. There was no way he could jump in and save him from his ear being lectured off.

"But-I…" He tried to defend himself, but what could he say? Did he tell them? Or should he wait like Lance suggested earlier?

"But you what?" Clari asked, rebounded like a rubber band. "Are you like his sugar daddy or something?"

"What? No! We're the same age, I swear! And-and we've been...busy." Great job, Keith, that'll sell them.

The little girl blinked sparkling eyes at him. "Where did you meet, tío? And where'd you go after that? Did you go somewhere womantic?"

God, he wished Lance was able to save him from this. Keith blushed and stammered, "I, uh, we met at the Garrison, and then, uh, we had to-we had to leave…"

Lance's brother, Pats, Keith remembered, raised an eyebrow. "And where have you been since then? In those fancy speeders no less."

Keith opened his mouth and shut it. How was he supposed to tell them that they have been fighting and rebuilding the universe for almost the last ten years to them? When Pidge and Hunk came back, they mentioned that they had a debriefing with the Garrison, but after that, it had been radio silence from them. Only the occasional message making it through to them. Did the Garrison not tell anyone?

"Do…do you not know?"

"Know what?"

Keith whipped his gaze to the sound of Lance’s mother speaking directly to him in a hoarse and clipped tone immediately making him think that he was the next to be scolded. Lance was still hunched over, eyes watery from his ear being pulled and the hand still pulling it led to his mother's very, _very_ , stern face. She looked ready to drop kick Keith back to space. Pats had said that she was nice, but the fiery determination in her eyes, demanding answers, was telling him a different story.

Pats and Clari both took wary steps away from Keith. Where was the camaraderie in this family? The bombardment from one sibling to the next and finally to Lance's mother of questions was pushing Keith closer and closer to the edge. He felt ready to lash out.

 _Treat her with respect, Keith, don't snap,_ he reminded himself. He took a steadying breath before he answered her.

"I'm sorry, but I don't exactly know what you're talking about." He tried to play it dumb and cool, but Mrs. McClain was having none of it.

"You know exactly what I am talking about, young man." She narrowed her eyes, her furious stare promising a longer lecture than he could possibly imagine receiving from Shiro or Allura.

"Ma'am, I-"

She held up a hand. "No excuses. I demand an explanation. Now."

Lance tried to rescue him, speaking in a slightly warbled voice, "Mama-"

"No, Lance, you will let your friend explain. I have heard enough from you."

He clamped his mouth shut, and Keith could feel his own throat start to constrict. This woman was terrifying.

"Ma'am, I-I think we should maybe, uh, move inside for this?" he ventured.

Mrs. McClain clucked her tongue and considered him, eyeing up and down, from his disheveled ponytail from the ride here to his gloves to his boots. His jacket was in his speeder. He couldn't move, he was rooted there to his spot on the McClain's lawn. Sure, he could put on an air of cool and distant when he needed to, but on the inside? He was a mess of emotions, confusion and apprehension being the leading two. Keith had no idea how to feel about this family. Within the ten minutes of parking their speeders, he had been dragged over to meet two of Lance's multiple siblings and forced to watch as his boyfriend's mother gave her son a piece of her mind. Keith guessed they were lucky to be removed from the rest of the suburban community or he was sure that the lecture Lance just received would have drawn in a few curious stares from the neighbors.

Eventually, Mrs. McClain _hmphed_ and started dragging Lance to the house. "Alright then. In the house, the lot of you," she quipped over Lance's whining.

With her gaze no longer on him, Keith sagged. What the hell was this family?

Clari grabbed his arm and started to drag him too. "C'mon, if you're Lance's boyfriend or anything you wouldn't want to miss this."

"What? Miss what?" Keith stumbled a little before he was walking with Clari.

Clari only smirked at him before shoving him into the house. Lance was standing right in front of him and everything was silent. A boy was draped in a recliner, legs hanging off the arm, a dumbfounded look on his face and a video game controller forgotten in his lap. The TV was flashing a game over message. Another boy was lounging on the couch, his hands up like he was holding a book, but the actual novel was on the floor, splayed open on the floor. Mrs. McClain was standing off to the side, watching everything, hands planted on her hips.

Movement caught Keith's eyes and another woman stepped out of the hallway, mouth open to ask about all the lack of noise. A toddler was in her arms, but as soon as she caught sight of the group in the doorway, she froze, face slack in disbelief.

Every was just staring at them. Was this real? Lance was just as shocked as everyone else. Keith figured that he would have been talking a mile a minute once he got back, but surprisingly, Lance was the one with few words right now.

The boy in the recliner sat up. "Lance?"

That seemed to spark some life back into him. Lance cracked a smile, goofy and lopsided. "The one and only."

Everything erupted. Lance's name was repeated so many times, Keith swore that he would hear it in his sleep now. The boy leaped up and launched himself at Lance, the other from the couch not far behind. The woman from the hallway made her way to stand next to his mother, tears streaming down her face.

Lance was tackled, and if it weren't the years of training they had put themselves through to survive, he would have gone down. The boy, or man, was the same height as Lance and wrapped him up in a hug, a hand in his hair. The younger one had his arms were around both of them, crying just as much as the other women.

Clari finally let go of Keith's arm and joined the group hug, her own tears finally spilling down her cheeks. This was real for them. Lance was back. Lance had finally come home.

And Keith felt out of place. He never had the large family, hell, he grew up in an orphanage before finally making it into the Garrison, and before Voltron, he lived in the shack out in the middle of nowhere desert. This? This was more than he could take.

Everyone was crying now. Even Mrs. McClain, who standing off to the side as she watched her children reunite with each other.

A heavy hand was placed on his shoulder. Keith looked and found Pats and Soph smiling at him.

"Even if he's the one that brought you here, thank you for bringing him home in one piece," Pats managed, his eyes were bright too. Soph was just beaming at the whole thing. She had an uncle she had never seen, but always heard about, and now he was finally here.

Keith could only stare back at Lance's brother, shell-shocked from all the emotions flying around him.

* * *

 

It took forever for the family to finally calm down enough for any of them to talk. After almost ten minutes of everything just being tears and hugs – yes, even Keith was drawn in for at least one group hug before he escaped to the far side of the room and let the family continue to reunite with Lance – Mrs. McClain finally put a stop to it and told everyone to get ready for dinner and instructed Lance and Keith to sit at the table and not move. Like they were going anywhere at this point.

Red purred in the back of Keith's mind, reassuring him that everything was going to be okay. Except Keith still couldn't shake the feeling that this was going to be a really long night for him and Lance.

While Keith was battling his emotions internally, Lance couldn't sit still.

Keith grabbed one of his hands and spoke in a hushed tone, stopping the incessant tapping. "Will you stop twitching?"

"Sorry, but have you ever thought about how you're supposed to tell someone that you pilot a giant mechanical lion and saved the universe?" Lance sighed, nerves still eating away at him.

Blue was being no help either, she was laughing away in the desert where he left her, taking way too much pleasure in her paladin's discomfort.

"Lance, it's just your family-"

"That makes it worse? Like if you think about it, it all sounds ridiculous?"

Keith rolled his eyes, leave it to Lance to be overdramatic. "Dude, just tell them like it is. We've been in space this whole time."

"Wait, seriously?"

Both of them turned to face Pats and Lance's other older brother, Nicco. Nicco looked flabbergasted and Pats was confused.

"Uh…yeah, we have." Good job, Lance.

"That's really hard to believe, but considering they still haven't found the Kerberos team, it's not entirely impossible." Pats shrugged and sat down next to Lance.

The paladins shared a look. So the Garrison really hadn't said anything about their disappearance or revealed anything about Hunk and Pidge.

Keith looked away and glared at nothing in particular. "Leave it to the Garrison to not say anything," he muttered.

"No kidding," Lance agreed.

Mrs. McClain and the other woman, Rebbeca Keith was told, started setting the table around them.

"We tried getting them to tell us what happened, but they were tight-lipped as usual." Mrs. McClain's voice held barely concealed contempt for the Garrison. Having a group of students disappear only a year after the failed Kerberos mission was doing nothing for their image.

Rebecca chimed in, "Not only that, but the Garret's were more than ready to charge in and give the Garrison a piece of their minds. It took a lot for them to keep quiet." She laid out the silverware and hot mats while Mrs. McClain set the plates in a stack on the table.

"What made them stop? Like, Hunk was with us the whole time." Lance mentioned.

"When Hunk came back out of nowhere with Katie Holt? Or was it Pidge? I don't know, but they were announced as new teachers there shortly after two meteors landed three years ago."

Pidge became a teacher? Lance glanced at Keith, but he was still staring at the wall with enough anger in his eyes to light the wall on fire. He gently squeezed his boyfriend's hand. Keith squeezed back but didn't look at him. Lance understood that Keith had a sore spot about the Garrison, but after everything that had happened to them, the Garrison was the one place that they could be of the most use. Their newfound knowledge about space travel, the alien tech that they have been piloting was bound to give the human race some major advances. It was better than sitting around doing nothing.

Hunk and Pidge had gone back to Earth two years castle time, but he knew Hunk was going to go back to the Garrison. They were the lead in engineering breakthroughs, and with the yellow lion there, human technology was going to skyrocket. But with Pidge there too along with their lion, the advances they could make was near infinitesimal.

"So Hunk and Pidge went to the Garrison? Figured they would have gone home." It was an offhand comment, but it was all he could think to say.

Lance still hadn't gathered his thoughts enough to start telling their story. Keith wasn't being any help either. He was being quiet, which was something Lance wasn't used to after all the years they've been working together. Keith, despite his somewhat distant personality, talked as much as he did, responding with quick comments to keep the conversation going or to spark new ones. It worked really well when they were planet-side and reassuring the indigenous races there that they were safe and the Galra were there to make peace, but now Keith had all but clammed up in front of his family. Should he have mentioned what he was planning before getting here? He probably should have, all those times that they were negotiating, they always had a game plan. This whole situation was Lance flying by the seat of his pants and leaving Keith stranded.

His mother placed dishes on the table, full to the brim with food, and he would deny that whole night that his stomach growled loud enough for the whole house to hear. Everyone was called for dinner.

Dinner was as chaotic as he remembered it. Everyone clambered to get to the food, bordering on being a free for all. He managed to snag food for him and Keith before it was all gone. Everyone's plates were piled high with food, and everyone dug in. Keith and Lance ate in uncomfortable silence, not knowing how to jump into the conversations around them. Just by listening, Lance found out that Rebecca had finally married and the boy she was carrying around earlier had been her first son, Bobby. Pats had been married to his wife, Liz, when he left for the Garrison, but Sophia was his oldest daughter and now, with the safety of her being at work, Pats told them that Liz was dropping hints that she wanted another child; the really casual stuff like ‘I want to have another baby' kind of thing. Yeah, okay Pats. Nicco had earned his bachelor's degree and was now working on his Master's in political science. Clari was in her senior year of high school and was crushing on a guy, going on and on about how she hoped that he would ask her to the winter formal. Lance's younger brother, Joey, and Mama were the only ones who were quiet, like them.

Lance avoided making eye contact with his mother, his ear throbbing still from the lecture he received out in the front yard still. He felt terrible for making her worry this whole time, and the reminder that she thought that he was dead drove the feeling deeper. Keith was stiff and awkward, this loud and rambunctious family being nothing like what he grew up.

He nudged Keith's foot gently, causing the other paladin to look up from his plate and finally at him. Lance scrunched his eyebrows with worry, glancing from Keith and his family, the silent question hanging between them. His boyfriend followed his look and nodded, tapping his foot on top of Lance's. He was okay for the moment.

Needless to say, this wasn't the reunion Lance had imagined. Sure, after the lecture, he received a warm welcome once inside, but he knew Keith had felt out of place from the beginning. It was his wishful thinking that his family would bounce right back after Lance came home, and welcome Keith. That was how he remembered his family, they never turned anyone away. Now, after years of nothing, it felt like they had grown jaded and were expecting Lance and Keith to walk out the door after dinner. Neither of them had really been accepted back into the family, meaning his mama had yet to say she was happy to see him. It broke Lance's heart a little, but he understood that. According to them, he had been gone, or worse dead, for almost ten years. And when he showed up in his speeder, followed by Keith, the McClain family had no idea what to think.

He could tell that his family was confused, but they were avoiding the topic as much as he was. Quiznak, he still had no idea what to say. His grip on his fork tightened as he fought to keep his panic from surfacing. Keith pressed his knee against Lance's leg, catching onto his nerves. He hadn't looked up from his food when Lance turned to him slightly. He was slowly eating, keeping his eyes on his food. Tension was thrumming through his whole body. Lance could see it, but to anyone else it, would have looked like was Keith simply reserved. He nudged him back, smirking a little when Keith looked at him out of the corner of his eye.

"Are you two flirting at the table?" Clari teased across from. She looked like she won some prize for catching him looking at Keith.

Lance couldn't help but let the smirk grow into a grin. "And if I was?"

He heard Keith choke on his food, and without breaking Clari's stare, patted him on the back to help the guy out.

Nicco rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, your boy is cute, but keep the bedroom eyes to a min, Lance. The rest of us would like to eat."

Lance matched his brother's eye roll. "Oh, please. Becks and Jordan basically had eye sex at the table. And let's not forget the game of footsie between Patty and Liz had when he first brought her home."

Rebecca had clapped her hands around Bobby's ears, Pats doing the same for Soph. "Lance, for god's sake, there are children here!"

"Clari and Joey are just fine since they've heard it all before." Lance paused to take a bite of his food. "Plus, neither of you denied it."

Pats and Becks immediately began denying either of those things and Nicco and Clari were gone, dying with laughter. Joey looked at all them with contempt, but when Lance glanced at his mother, he felt for the first time he came home that everything was going to be okay. His mom was smiling, her children were all here, happy and alive.

Lance smiled back at his mom, like truly smiled. She chuckled and stood up from the table, grabbing her plate and one of the dishes from the table. Seeing their mother leave the table, all the others began to clean up too.

Looking down at his own plate, Lance realized that his diet of space goo had really messed up his appetite. The rich food at home was too much for his stomach, and with a quick look at Keith's plate, he was in the same boat. Both of their plates were only half eaten while everyone else had cleared theirs.

Mama walked back into the dining room and leaned on a chair. "Are you and Keith going to finish, Lance?" she asked.

With a sigh, Lance pushed his food away. "Wish I could finish Mama, but space food is really bland compared to this."

"Space goo only goes so far for taste," Keith piped up. He had shoved his plate away too, looking like he was going to be sick a little. Yeah, going from a really bland diet to the over the top flavors on earth was going to wreak havoc on their stomachs while they were here.

His mother laughed a little. "About that, you are going to tell us where you have been for the last eight years, yes?"

The smile that was lingering on Lance's face disappeared, he nodded in all seriousness. "I promised, Mama."

Rebecca reappeared in the dining room with a sleepy Bobby on her shoulder. "This should be interesting."

Lance chuckled nervously and Keith muttered, "That's putting it mildly."

Mrs. McClain picked up their plates as Pats came in with Soph. Her face had sobered from the brief moment of happiness he saw at the table a few moments ago. His mother had aged, Lance realized. Worry lines were prominent on her forehead and the laugh lines that he grew up were out shown by the frown lines. Her blue eyes, much like his own, looked tired, actually they were exhausted, but there was the hint of relief in them. Lance felt his guilt at making his mother worry over him stab him in the heart, and for eight years no less.

"Are we finally going to learn what happened to tío?" Soph asked, looking between Pats and Lance.

His mother left the room as he smiled at his niece. "Yeah, it's almost story time, Sobrina."

For the second time that evening, everyone was at the table, but instead of the focus being on food, it was on him and Keith. Lance was fidgeting again and Keith wasn't doing much better, staring at the wall again. Honestly, the picture they painted looked they were two boys who got caught with their hands in the cookie jar.

After a long awkward moment, Mrs. McClain got tired of waiting and asked the first question. "What happened to you, Lance?"

Lance flinched and met his mother's eyes slowly. He swallowed. "Well…uh, what do you want to know first?" He still had no idea how to start.

Pats came to the rescue. "How did you end up in space?"

And without missing a beat, Lance replied. "A giant mechanical blue lion."

Keith rolled his eyes at Lance's comment. The collective judgment that Team Voltron would give Lance whenever he said something stupid was nothing to the collective stares that he got from his family. It was almost laughable, and it explained why Lance was never phased by it.

Mrs. McClain turned her gaze to Keith, and he put up his hands in surrender. "He's not making it up."

Rebecca scoffed. "Okay, start from the beginning. Like, from, I don't know, from when you left the Garrison."

With a heavy sigh, Lance begin in tur Lance fashion. "Ok, so you know the failed Kerberos mission that the Garrison announced? Well, it wasn't because of pilot error. The team was actually abducted by these aliens called the Galra –basically they looked like purple cats with yellow eyes, okay? And Shiro somehow escaped and managed to find his way back to earth after a year Earth time." He took a deep breath. "And he crashed landed. The Garrison found him and we, like Pidge, Hunk, Keith and I, rescued him from the Garrison. And then from there, Keith mentioned something being in the desert was calling to him – some voodoo stuff. Hunk made this Geiger counter thing that was locked on the signal Keith was talking about and it led us to Blue."

"Not exactly how it happened, but it's the general gist," Keith remarked. It was the really dumbed down version of what happened, but it was for the most part accurate.

"You could tell the story then."

"Lance, I just agreed with you."

"By disagreeing with me first?"

"Do you really think this is the right time for this? Get on with the story."

Lance scowled, but their banter put him more at ease. He looked at his family and their faces were ranging from ‘are kidding me?' to ‘that's what you call flirting?'. He took a deep breath and barreled on before they could start to ask questions.

"After that, Blue, the giant mechanical lion that I'm not lying about, by the way, took us, everyone plus Shiro now, to outer space, all the way to Kerberos, fought the Galra ship that was after Shiro, and then jumped through a wormhole that took us to an alien planet where we found the aliens that made the Lions in the first place. And it turned out that all of us were supposed to be paladins, the pilots for these lions, and save the universe, which we did, after what? Four years?" Lance turned to Keith for confirmation.

Keith nodded and added, "Yeah, four years to take down the guy leading the Galra, Zarkon. Since then we've been trying to put the universe back together."

He sat back and crossed his arms. Lance turned back to his family, and more of them were looking like they had just told them a story straight out of a sci-fi novel. They were all beyond confused, and granted Lance didn't explain it in the best way, he was still processing it after six years of being a Paladin.

Eventually, his mom spoke. "So, you left the Garrison to join a group to save the universe? Is that what I'm getting from this?" She had her eyes narrowed slightly and her brows knit together, her brain trying to comprehend exactly what her son had just told her.

Lance nodded. "I know it's really kinda weird, and it's something I'm still trying to figure out myself, but yeah, that's what, uh, happened."

Silence fell over them, no one knew what to say next. Lance and Keith really had no way of proving any of this to them without calling their lions to the small house. Even as far removed from the city as they were, the lions would be spotted for sure, and let's just say they would rather keep them out by Keith's shack where no one could spot them.

"I wanna meet Blue!"

They all jumped at Sophia's sudden exclamation. The suddenness of it punctuated the awkwardness and Lance laughed, tossing his head back. "Haha, maybe another day, Soph, but not tonight."

"Aww, but I wanna meet Blue. It made sure you were safe, tío. I gotta thank it!"

Lance put his elbows on the table and leaned forward, one of his trademark smiles in place, and his shoulders relaxed. "I'm sure she would like to meet you someday, too. But not tonight, Sobrina."

Sophia put on her best puppy dog impression but Lance didn't look phased. Whenever Keith pulled that trick on him, it took a moment for him to give in.

"How ‘bout tomorrow, yeah?" So maybe he was little affected, but it wasn't his fault entirely. Blue enjoyed being shown off as much as Lance loved giving her attention.

Keith smirked. Of course. Even if Lance had become more responsible over the years, he still wasn't going to pass up the opportunity to show off his lion.

"So how long are you going to stay before you disappear again?" Joey asked in a bored tone.

Lance's smile disappeared and he took a minute to reply. "Well…we still have a lot to do, so we can only really stay for the week."

"A week?" His mother repeated.

"Yeah, I know it's not long, Mama, but it's really all we could do. But things are calming down, I promise, I should be able to come home more often."

Mrs. McClain didn't seem to be appeased with that. "More often? How long are you going to be gone, Lance? Another eight years?"

Both of them flinched at her accusation. Neither of them could give her a definite answer. If they knew when diplomatic missions would take place, if they knew when planets would agree to see Voltron and the Galra, and how long those meetings would take, they could give her a possible estimate. But even then, space travel always had a different timeline than Earth.

"Mama…if I could-"

"Lance we thought you died. What do you mean you don't know if you're coming back?"

"Mama, I-"

A door slammed from the back of that house and Lance looked up to see his dad standing there, looking like he's seen a ghost.

In true McClain fashion, his mother carried on without missing anything. "Honey, can you believe that our son has been gallivanting around the universe, saving it from purple cat aliens, and can't tell me when he's going to be home next?"

His father blinked, eyes going between Lance and Mrs. McClain. "We are talking about Lance, right, Rosa? The one who went off to the Galaxy Garrison to be a pilot? The same one with the NASA posters up in his room and always talked about being an astronaut?"

"I'm right here you know!" Lance was out of his seat, his hands flat on the table, looking absolutely affronted that his father would divulge that information in front of everyone, especially Keith, who couldn't hold back a snicker at the image of a much smaller Lance talking nonstop about working for NASA.

"The very one." His mother quipped.

Mr. McClain shrugged and set down his bag. "Then I'd believe it, dear."

"Thank you!" Lance exclaimed. He would forgive his father for the embarrassing statements for agreeing with him at least. His hands were in his hair and he sat down heavily in the chair, making it slide away from the table. "Finally someone believes us…"

"No one said they didn't believe you," Pats said. "But the story you gave us is kind of out there, Lance."

Lance didn't say anything, and after a look at Keith that was more of a plea for help. Keith made up for his lack of response. "To be fair, after finding the Blue Lion and flying to Arus, it was only two days for us. It didn't really set in until like the first year that this was going to be our lives."

"Only a year? And you guys weren't freaking out the whole time?" Nicco leaned forward, eyes bright with curiosity.

Keith shrugged. "It wasn't like we had time to freak out. Literally from day one we were thrust into a ten-thousand-year war, and the fact that we ended it after only four is almost comical."

"Hold up, ten thousand years?" Clari's jaw dropped. "You're saying that after ten thousand years, you – you, Lance, Hunk, Pidge and Shiro beat this emperor Sharkon dude in four years?"

"Don't forget we had Allura and Coran's help," Lance added. “Plus the resistance fighters that helped out occasionally.”

"And it was Zarkon, not Sharkon or whatever you said. But yeah, four years." Keith finished.

Lance's father whistled from behind his wife. "Sounds like you boys could use a vacation."

Keith nodded. Lance ran a hand down his face, his exhaustion was palpable. The time they spent as paladins was catching up with them, and finally being in an environment where they were certain they wouldn't be attacked or preparing to meet another alien race was settling on them. Both of them looked ready to drop on the spot.

After looking at both of them for a hard moment, Rosa finally acquiesced. They had saved the universe, and inadvertently, their families. Her son and Keith both deserved a place to rest. Granted she was still upset that Lance had left without a word and showed up at her doorstep with a weak smile and tired eyes, she couldn't hold it against them. Even with the technological advances that have coming out like clockwork from the Garrison thanks to Hunk and Pidge, communications were still severely limited for civilians.

She stood up and made her way around the table to the two boys, young men now. Without a word, she gathered both of them into a tight hug. Lance immediately wrapped his arms around her and Keith stiffened for a moment before relaxing into the hug.

"I'm glad the both of you are home safe…" she whispered to them.

They were finally home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welp, how'd we do? After writing this chapter, I realized that over the course of the fic, we are going to have like 30 characters present and interacting with the main cast. Like holy hell that's a lot. (Cuz most of my fics center around like 4 or 5 at the most and just wow, there's so many...??) That being said, let us know if there are any characterization issues? Like if one is all over the play, or the VLD characters are OOC. Seriously, i don't mind being told, and I'm happy to go back and edit chapters if need be. Constructive crit is ok guys!! Lay it on me!! :D
> 
> Anyways, hope yall enjoyed, leave comments, kudos, subscribe. It makes Nix's and my nights. :) And there's more domestic Klance to come in the next couple of weeks, schedules permitting~


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